1. A2 Media
20th February 2012
Historical View of Representation
of Youth

2. Aims
 To introduce the ideas of moral panic and
deviance amplification.
 To analyse and discuss the representation of
youths and youth culture in a historical text.

3. What is a moral panic?
 A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed
in a population about an issue that appears to
threaten the social order
 "The process underscores the importance of the
mass media in providing, maintaining and
'policing' the available frameworks and
definitions of deviance, which structure both
public awareness of, and attitudes towards,
social problems."

4. Folk Devils
 Those deviant groups were
labelled by Stanley Cohen
in 1972 as folk devils.
 He based his theory on the
media reporting of conflicts
between two teenage
tribes of the 1960s, the Mods
and Rockers, but his thinking
can be applied to any
subculture labelled as
deviant or dangerous by
the media.

5. Stan Cohen – Moral Panic
 According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and
Moral Panics (1972) and credited as creator of the term, a
moral panic occurs when ”…condition, episode, person or
group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat
to societal values and interests.”
 Those who start the panic when they fear a threat to
prevailing social or cultural values are known by
researchers as "moral entrepreneurs," while people who
supposedly threaten the social order have been described
as "folk devils."

6. Stan Cohen
 Cohen's study was primarily about the Mods and
Rockers of the 1960's and the treatment they
received in the public eye. The main criticism
was that they were seen as a threat to law and
order largely through the way the mass media
represented them, in the form of what Cohen
calls the 'control culture'.
 Largely this refers to the media sensationalising
an event and then calling for a punishment to
be set to persecute the offenders.

7. Clockwork Orange
 Background
 A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of
Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name.
 It features disturbing, violent images, facilitating
its social commentary on psychiatry, youth
gangs, and other social, political, and economic
subjects in a dystopian, future Britain.

8. The Clockwork Controversy
by Christian Bugge
 The problems really started when the press reported a
spate of supposed copy-cat crimes.
 The first and most famous of these was the case
involving a 16 year old boy called James Palmer who
had beaten to death a tramp in Oxfordshire.
 Edward Laxton reported in the Daily Mirror, "The
terrifying violence of the film A Clockwork Orange
fascinated a quiet boy from a Grammar School...And
it turned him into a brutal murderer". Laxton
continues, "The boy viciously battered to death a
harmless old tramp as he acted out in real life a
scene straight from the movie A Clockwork Orange”

9.  Most working-class youths referred to
themselves as "Suedeheads" due to
their closely cropped hair styles. "Ben
Sherman" shirts, "Levis Sta-press"
trousers, 6 hole polished "Dr.Martin"
boots and braces were the essential
cladder of the day.
 Alex and his droogs were just as
particular about what they wore, "the
thin braces, the white strides, the rakish
use of hats, the combat boots as
combined fashion accessory and
blunt instrument.

10. The Clockwork Controversy
by Christian Bugge
 A Clockwork Orange began to be developed
into an euphemism in the press for referring to
teenage crime and societal deviance.
 This is still relevant today as you can see from the
following headlines…

11. Headline
from
December
2005

12. Headline
from April
2010

13. The Clockwork Controversy
by Christian Bugge
 So how did all this effect the youngsters? Were
they really affected in the way that the moral
majority feared?
 It appears not. In fact the youth of the day saw
A Clockwork Orange in a completely different
light. What they saw was a representation of a
life they already lived. In working class urban
areas the violence and the tribal identity of Alex
and his droogs was a reflection of football
hooliganism, gang fighting and loyalty to your
friends and team.

14. Clockwork Orange Summary
 Moral panic created by press about the effect the film
had on groups of teenagers and encouraging societal
deviance.
 Sensationalist headlines reporting incidents of violence
(deviance amplification).
 Was found that the youth of the time did not see the
film as encouraging violence and anti social behaviour.
 However they did identify with the representation of a
life in which they already lived (violence and
hooliganism) and having loyalty to your friends.

15. Quadrophenia (1979)
 Set in London 1965
 Follows the story of
Jimmy Cooper, a
London Mod.
Disillusioned by his
parents and a job as a
post room boy in an
advertising firm, Jimmy
finds an outlet for his
teenage angst with his
Mod friends.

16. Quadrophenia
 Think about how fashion, music, language, drugs
and sex are used symbolically to make meaning
and represent values like rebellion , anger and
disillusion.
 ‘subcultures use style to represent their resistance
to the dominant ideologies of a corrupt society.
They take symbols like the smart clothes or
mopeds and modify or customise them to show
their alternative values’.

17. Link to BBC site
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories
/may/18/newsid_2511000/2511245.stm

18. Task
 Watch Quadrophenia (1979)
 Make notes on the following:
 Representation and values of Jimmy, Steph and
Kevin.
 What examples of mise en scene would reinforce
idea of youth culture?
 What ideologies are present within the film? Use
textual examples to back up your points.
 Post your findings on your blog.

19. Representation of Jimmy
 Wanted to be part of a gang, group identity
very important to him.
 Wanted to be different but he was the same as
any other mod - wanted to be alternative.
 Took it too seriously wanted to get out of his
dead end job and his life.
 Identity compromised when his friend is beaten
up.
 Stereotyped (scenes at home with his Dad and
at work).

20. Jimmy continued…
‘ Got to be part of a gang, haven’t you got a mind
of your own’.
There is a divide between youth and adults.
Divide between middle class and working class
(jimmy being sick in the toilets at work)
Reinforces the representation of youth and the
binary oppositions in the film

21. Steph
 Sexual Freedom
 Feminine compared to androgynous mods
 No loyalty

22. Ideologies
 Sub cultural ideology
 Living for the here and now
 Dominant ideology of being in a gang.
 Them and us – (mods v society)- binary
oppositions (My Generation – young v old)

23. Other Key ideas
 Mob mentality
 Racism – ignorance
 Finding your identity

24. Case Study
 To get high marks in the exam paper you must
make detailed reference to examples to back
up points made.
 Clockwork Orange and Quadrophenia are
historical texts which you can reference i8n an
exam answer.

25. Historical Case Study – write up
Create an analysis of both films using the prompts below:
1. Discuss Stan Cohens ideas. Define what is meant by a
moral panic & deviance amplification.
2. Clockwork Orange (1971)
1. Discuss the background to the film.
2. How was the film reported by the press and how did
the youths of the time relate to the film?
3. How can Stan Cohen’s theory be related to this film?
3. Quadrophenia (1979)
1. Discuss the representation and ideological values of
Jimmy, Steph and Kevin. Use textual examples to back
up your point made.
2. What examples of mise en scene reinforce the idea of
youth culture?
3. What ideologies are present within the film?
4. How can Stan Cohen’s theory be related to this film?
FINALLY: Conclude by discussing how these films and ideologies
may reinforce or reflect similar moral panics in the media today.